With the advancement of computing or data manipulation devices, such as personal computers (PCs), Apple® computers (MACs), media hardware, both portable and stationary, I/O sensors, remote devices, appliances, data and communications capabilities have been driven to increased mobility. With these changes has come a plethora of new mobile devices employing touch screen user interfaces. In this changing time there is a need to reduce the total number of electronic devices in our lives and improve the functionality, and efficiency while reducing the complexity of the corresponding user interface(s).
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional computing device and corresponding user interface. A user may interface with the computing device 102 via peripheral devices, such as a keyboard 106 and a mouse 120. The user manipulations performed by the mouse 120 may be viewable on a monitor 104, which illustrates a cursor moving across the viewable area of the monitor 104. Wireless interfaces used to connect the keyboard 106 and the mouse 120. In this example, there are no smart devices or computing devices used as peripherals to the desktop computing device 102.
The mere number of personal computing devices and the various types of user input interfaces employed in such mobile devices (e.g., phone, audio player, video player, social networking, web browser, document editor, etc.) may be overwhelming. For instance, the stationary computing devices at work and home and the mobile devices used in-between may leave the user tired of switching back-and-forth between devices during the course of the day. Certainly, it is advantageous to have a single device or an integrated device that implements the same intuitive interface and appearance to the end user. Such a device would provide a user input interface for all electronic computing devices used in the user's daily life.